


Coffee and meds

by Donya



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Chronic Illness, Fluff, FrostIron - Freeform, Gen, Humour, Implied fiku-miku, M/M, Mentioned bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-26 11:49:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3849889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donya/pseuds/Donya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coffee shop au. Tony meets someone from his past, a former classmate that was gravely ill and still is sickly pale and thin. Tony is curious if Loki is doing better and bombards him with inappropriate questions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee and meds

It was one of those deceptively sunny spring days, when a morning is delightfully clear but by midday the sky is heavy with clouds and everyone regrets not taking a coat. Tony had barely left his apartment and he was already shivering and cursing under his breath. What to do, he wondered, go back and put on a thick jumper? Or perhaps go to that new café right across the street? Warm coffee solves every problem.

It turned out that not only Tony got that idea, the place was crowded with all kinds of coffee addicts. The only free table was next to a young man that was clearly prepared for spending hours without leaving his seat. He brought three old books with yellowed pages and wrinkled covers and the rest of his table was occupied by a large mug and two plates containing a slice of carrot cake and a handful of macaroons. Oddly enough, the man was lean, lucky bastard.

Tony made his way to the last free spot and while manoeuvring between bags left on the floor and chairs, he glanced at the stranger that somehow seemed familiar. Focused on one of the books, carefully turning pages, the man didn't react in any way when Tony finally sat next to him and said, 'What a horrible weather, right?' Maybe he was shy, Tony guessed, or he was a foreigner. Pale skin, longish inky hair, that could be a Scandinavian.

Tony sipped his coffee, enjoying the delicious warmth spreading through him, yet something about the reader didn't let him relax. Did he know that man? Feeling like a total creep, Tony stared at him, trying to remember if he had met him before. When? Probably not recently, maybe at school?

The stranger closed the book, then spend a good minute picking the right macaroon, he finally chose a brown one and devoured it, sighing contently. Tony leant in closer, more and more convinced that he had come across him already but when and where? A thin shoulder bag was laying next to the man's boots, on its side there was a faded sign that finally solved the mystery. It read "Loki".

'Oh crap,' Tony muttered and moved away slowly.

He had known a Loki. They went to the same primary school for a brief time. Tony remembered there was something wrong with Loki, the boy was smaller than his age, always sickly pale, almost green and so thin that one could count his ribs. It was enough to be teased and laughed at, someone implied Loki was infectiously ill and a single touch could be deadly, so everyone began to avoid Loki. Truth be told, he did look ill and quite often missed school, the children wondered if he had cancer or some other lethal disease. Unsurprisingly, Loki was silent and appeared to be completely uninterested in making friends with anyone, he only cared about books he brought from home, always without pictures and too serious for a young boy. Tony recalled he never actively teased Loki but he didn't defend him either and laughed with the others. Isn't it what children do? Being cruel without realising it fully? And yet Tony felt guilty.

He considered running away but he wasn't a coward. How difficult it could be to truthfully apologise for his past mistakes? Piece of cake.

'Loki?' He asked and without waiting for an answer, he continued, 'Loki, it's me, Tony Stark. Remember me? What a coincidence, huh?'

Loki gave him a questioning look, then opened his mouth and said, 'Jeg snakker ikke engelsk. Kan du snakke norsk?'

Oh. That was unexpected. But Tony knew what Loki was trying to do, who doesn't pretend they don't speak English to avoid having a conversation?

'Yes, uh-huh, like I believe you. How could you not know any _engelsk_? Come up with a better lie next time,' Tony advised and to prove he had good intentions, he patted Loki's shoulder. Loki flinched and cried, 'Ikke rør meg! Hjelp!'

'Oh my God, Loki, stop making a scene! I know you're not Norwegian, cut the shit. You have the right to be angry with me but I only want to apologise.' Tony hissed. Ugh, why do bullied people make it so hard to apologise to them? Where's the gratitude?

Loki's brows furrowed as he considered his next move. He couldn't leave yet, he still had plenty of sweets to eat and books to read. 'Fine,' he snarled, 'say you're sorry and shut up.'

'I am sorry. At that time I didn't know it's bad to make fun of the ill. And, now I think I was scared of death and you looked half dead, so... Anyway, what was it?'

'What was what?'

'Your illness. What was it? Leukaemia? A tumour? Kidney failure? You still look sick. Have you had an organ transplant? Dialysis? Chemotherapy? Is it scary? Sounds scary. Is it really safe for you to ingest this much sugar and fat?'

Loki grimaced and ostentatiously ate a huge piece of the cake. 'You wan idiot, Shtark,' he declared with his mouth full.

'Oh, you know how it is, we are terrified and grossed out by serious diseases but also fascinated by them, their cruelty and by the patients' strength. How do you cope with a death sentence? Are you in remission? Aren't you guys supposed to avoid crowds? Germs and stuff, you know.'

'You do love the sound of your voice,' Loki remarked and washed down the cake with a gulp of his cooling coffee.

'It must feel great, huh? Being out of the hospital. How long have you stayed there? Couple of years? That's so horrible.'

'Can you just bother someone else?'

'Ah! Is it haemophilia? Do you have haemophilia, like Alexei Romanov? It's such an awful disease. I can't imagine how painful and debilitating it must be.'

'You are harassing me, Stark. I don't like this conversation. Go away.'

'Yeah, ok. But will it change anything if I say you're hot?'

Loki snorted and muttered something incomprehensible, yet he couldn't hide a small smile. Of course it felt good to hear a heartfelt and just slightly indirect compliment. Maybe he didn't hear those too often. Most likely he was still a virgin, so far too preoccupied with battling the cancer to fool around.

'I mean, yes, you could put on some weight but you look good, being skeletal suits you. As long as it doesn't interfere with your healing process.'

'You are ridiculous,' Loki said harshly, although he was obviously flattered by Tony's interest in him. 'Continue.'

'If you're not too busy taking meds and staying away from other people's bacteria, we could go out together. I've been vaccinated, no worries, your weakened immune system is safe with me. Plus, you need some normality and distraction from the years of suffering.'

'Do you mean a date?'

'Yeah. We can do whatever you want. Compare scars, for example. Do have this huge scar on your chest from a cardiac surgery? It's so creepy, I wanna see it.'

'All right,' Loki agreed after a moment of hesitation. 'But you pay and I can't eat some cheap fast food.'

'Anything you want. I really feel bad about the way I behaved when we were kids. Let me make it up for you. You won't regret it.'

'Ok. I'm free tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.'

'Tomorrow.'

 

It took Tony weeks to realise he didn't see any actual scars on Loki's body, nor was there a sign of medical equipment or meds in Loki's flat. Also, once he thought about it, Loki never confirmed he was ill. He confronted Loki once again, this time wisely choosing a situation when Loki was desperate and unusually truthful.

'I've never been ill, you idiot!' Loki growled and squirmed under Tony impatiently. 'I'm just skinny and pale and you fuckers thought I had an infectious cancer!'

'So why did you missed school so often?'

'Because you all bullied me! That's why! I would spend days in the library, far from the illiterate jerks. Is that all you wanted to know? Can we go back to having sex?'

Well, yeah. Technically, Loki didn't tell a lie and what really mattered was his health. He wasn't dying and Tony had plenty of time to pleasure him. Loki's mysterious disease brought them together, at least something good came out of it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Norwegian is a funny language. Everything seems misspelt and mispronounced, and according to the Norwegians, the only place Norwegian is spoken nowadays is Iceland (in Norway they speak Danish).


End file.
